


something in the distance

by eratedgore



Category: One Piece
Genre: Gen, surreal ish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-30
Updated: 2017-03-30
Packaged: 2018-10-12 18:54:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10497402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eratedgore/pseuds/eratedgore
Summary: Ace runs around like an idiot after Luffy, who is only presumably out there, running around like an idiot. He isn’t sure if that’s all there is to it.





	

The forest seems unusually large today.

Ace guesses it’s around sunset. The forest is greener than ever, if that’s possible. Few animals are out, but he catches glimpses of the occasional bird and ominous shadow slinking by. Without his pipe though, he wouldn’t entertain the thought of catching something for dinner. There’s the chance the mud and rain could make him slip too. The rain hasn’t let up at all through the day, and the sky has been grey with clouds since the early morning. Rain isn’t bad if Ace isn’t out in it for hours, but he has been. His hair is sticking to his face and the inside of his shoes are soaked. He’s gonna get sick.  _ Luffy’s  _ gonna get sick, even if he is an idiot.

Ace frowns and moves through the forest carefully, pushing aside large branches and wide leaves. He can almost see Luffy right before him, dressed in his worn sandals and shorts, the shirt Makino gave him just a week ago that’s already stained and dirty, his straw hat tipped back and out of his eyes, and Ace’s old, faded jacket that he outgrew and forced Luffy to wear this morning and very firmly told Luffy not to toss or  _ else _ . Luffy nodded enthusiastically. The jacket is probably over a cliff or hung forgotten on some tree by now. Ace almost smiles at the thought, feeling strangely nostalgic about the memory. It hasn’t been that long since this morning. 

...Right?

Ace slows down, pausing midstep.

That happened…  _ today _ , right?

...When did he enter the forest?

Ace’s eyes snap open and his vision takes a bit to clear, ears ringing slightly. He takes a deep breath. He doesn’t remember, but now isn’t the time to wonder about something like that. Not here.

The sky grows dark as it starts raining harder. 

He pushes on.

Where the hell is Luffy anyway? It feels like it’s been days since Ace started looking around. Luffy’s never usually away from his side this long. One minute he was there, then the next he was gone. It wasn’t unusual or strange to have Luffy run off, not to say that Luffy wasn’t unusual or strange, but he generally came scampering back to Ace afterwards, grinning widely the whole time. Ace has to watch out for him, but he doesn’t really mind. What are big brothers for? Being there for the little brother.

If they can fucking  _ find them _ .

Dammit.

His chest aches.

As he walks, Ace glances side to side every once in awhile for signs of Luffy. He  _ knows  _ signs of Luffy, like they’re something you study or learn from a parent, touch the dirt with two fingers and then sniff it kind of thing. They’re always everywhere in subtle things someone who hasn’t lived with Luffy for forever wouldn’t notice. Sometimes it’s the way branches are broken like Luffy stumbled through them, or prints of his sandals in odd places like on tree trunks, or marks like he dragged a stick through the dirt. Sometimes though it’s literally just the sound of him screaming somewhere. But there’s nothing today. It’s like Luffy hasn’t been here today but there’s always a reason for him to go into the forest, so maybe more like he got stuck somewhere and can’t run around. Maybe his jacket got caught on a tree, and he’s taking Ace seriously for once and is trying to still wear— 

Ace stops.

Maybe he’s hurt.

Luffy

_ couldn’t _ have gotten hurt,

right?

Ace’s chest hurts as his heart pounds against his insides. He’s nervous. It’s probably nothing, Luffy’s probably  _ fine,  _ but suddenly Ace’s remembering that one time Luffy was running towards him, hurt and frantic, punching his way through everything that stopped him, and Ace was so fucking  _ scared _ —

Wait. When did  _ that _ happen?

The scene is unusually,  _ sickeningly _ vivid in his mind.

Something’s not right. Ace tries to think about something else. Anything else.

There was that one time with the bear. Or that one time with the almost bear. Or was it a tiger? Maybe that was a different time, but  _ please Luffy _ , he thinks,  _ don’t be— _

Ace starts running. He just wants to leave the damn forest, but he can’t, not without Luffy, so he calls out as loud as he can. Some birds are startled and leave the trees, and something shuffles through the green to his left, then to his right, but no response from Luffy. Where did that dumbass get off to? 

Something’s openly watching him in the distance, beyond the rain.

Ace doesn’t bother with it. He’s long since decided that the forest today is something he hasn’t known before.

More eyes are on him, watching, waiting.

He calls out again, and thinks he faintly hears a response through the rain, Luffy calling back! It might’ve been his imagination, but it sounded pained and broken. Pure terror runs up Ace’s spine—  _ hurt, he’s hurt _ , his mind screams— and although he’s soaked to the bone and dead tired, he sprints off in the cry’s direction.

He feels like he’s forgetting something. Has breathing always been this tough?

Maybe he’s been running in circles. Maybe Luffy isn’t out here, maybe he’s safe at home.

Ace runs anyway.

The rain continues to fall.

**Author's Note:**

> yeah i wanted to try a sort of abstract dream like scene... hence "attempt at surreality"... post death ace wandering around in some sort of dream  
> anyway thanks to the people who preposting read this for me


End file.
